Sentence Correction

There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been

Do we 'speculate whether' or do we 'speculate that'?

Please explain

GG04 wrote:There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been

Do we 'speculate whether' or do we 'speculate that'?

Please explain

1. Speculation that is the correct idiom.
2. Increasing is a verb while increasingly is an adverb. So, of course, you need an adverb to modify the adjective "cold".
3. That leaves us with C and E. E is better for its simple structure and usage of "may have been" that is in line with speculation..

IMO E.

I would also say the answer is E.
You have to use "increasingly" which is an adverb to describe an adjective "cold" so the choice would be either C or E.

C is incorrect because "was what had been" is wordy. "may have been" is more concise and simple.

Hope this helps-

I think it's E too. Could someone please post the OA?

was what may have been
was what was
was what had been
may have been what was

are all incorrect
so E IMO is correct

Go with E...

IMO C

as speculation and May are the same... Use of May in E is redundant when Speculation is used...

Please post the OA

I agree with C .whats the OA??/

E all the way.

C is a terrible choice. what was had been? ew. gags. pukes.

OA is E

Can someone plz. explain why we used "have been" with use of "weather" which is singular non-count noun

gmat009 wrote:Can someone plz. explain why we used "have been" with use of "weather" which is singular non-count noun

The have you are thinking and this have are different.

Example:
She might have caused the problem.
is correct

stop@800 wrote:

gmat009 wrote:Can someone plz. explain why we used "have been" with use of "weather" which is singular non-count noun

The have you are thinking and this have are different.

Example:
She might have caused the problem.
is correct

Are you talking about Subjunctive mood....